Off the radar

Stratford Town striker Ben Stephens appears off Coventry City’s radar after a trial period failed to materialise at the League Two club.

The 20-year-old’s club said last week that their star man was due to spend two days on trial at the end of last week with a view to playing for the Sky Blues Under-23s against Cardiff City today.

But there was no sign of Stephens, who has scored 17 goals for the non-league outfit so far this season and due to be heading to Championship Ipswich Town for trials this week, as Jason’s Farndon’s development side went down 1-0 to the Bluebirds, courtesy of a tenth minute Ibrahim Meite goal at the Alan Higgs Centre.

Asked about situation, Farndon revealed: “He’s not been in.

“I didn’t know so much about him – I have seen a lot of press but we don’t conduct our business like that.

“If we have someone in on trial there’s not a big fanfare about bringing players in.”

Asked if he thought the situation was all a bit strange, Farndon admitted: “Yes, very.

“But if someone is trying to move someone on then you get used as a vehicle with rumours etc.

“We have got lots of strikers at this club. Obviously we have Jordan Ponticelli who is around about that age and we think is going to be a top player, so as I said, we do our triallists and transfer business in private.”

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Stevenson latest

Mark Robins admits he’s not sure how serious the interest is in Coventry City midfielder Ben Stevenson with just a few days left before the January transfer window shuts.

The 20-year-old Academy gradtuate has been linked with interest from two clubs in the last week, League One flyers Wigan Athletic and Premier League bound Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Wolves are the latest club to be linked, with reports at the weekend claiming that Molineux chiefs are in talks with the Sky Blues over a possible move ahead of Wednesday’s transfer deadline.

Stevenson has slipped down the pecking order this season but has been named on the bench in recent weeks and travelled as part of the matchday squad to MK Dons on Saturday.

He went on as a second half substitute for Liam Kelly, helping City see out the last 15 minutes of their fourth round FA Cup tie at stadium:mk and almost killing the game off with a late chance to score in the 1-0 victory.

Asked about the speculation regarding interest from Wolves, Robins said: “I don’t know. I don’t know how serious it is yet.

“We’ll have to see.

“We have got until Wednesday yet to work that out and I am sure you will have some news on that before I do.”

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Painful memories

The tie which will take place at Brighton's AMEX Stadium will be played on the weekend of 16th to 19th February 2018.

It could well evoke painful memories for Seagulls boss Chris Hughton who was part of the Tottenham side beaten by City in the 1987 final.

Hughton, then a 28-year-old right back, played the initial 90 minutes for Spurs before he was taken off seven minutes into added time and replaced by Nico Claesen - two minutes after Gary Mabbutt had scored the own goal which turned out to be the Sky Blues' winner.

He was also a close bystander to Keith Houchen's famous diving header.

Hughton has been in charge of Brighton since 2014.

City's last away match against the club ended in a 2-1 Championship defeat in November 2011.